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I'd rather it be an actual story than a mere fanservice extra. Though the odds of Umineko having anything to do with this are slim, I think it would've been included in the initial announcement if that was the case.

Great news! More Higurashi is always nice, though I hope it will not be just fanservice. Batsukoishi is bound to be one, but I hope the original arcs are something more mysterious. Higurashi "Glitter" isn't helping... Maybe they're turning Higurashi into a slice-of-life anime about their past-the-incident lives.
Could be kind of lame, though also interesting, because they're all lovable characters. Well, I think it will be mostly humorous, but I hope it will have some tingling Higurashi feeling to it. I'll watch it to the end, whatever it turns out to be.

Are the new arcs actually all new, or are some of them from Kataribanashi or similar? I haven't read any, but curious if someone does know about them.

I hope they'd animate Chiru soon though... With better director than Chiaki Kon. Maybe it'll be in winter season or spring next year. Rei and Umineko's first season overlapped a bit. So I shouldn't think of Kira as any sort of obstacle, maybe it is meant to raise interest in the When They Cry anime again and then churn out Chiru to accompany it.

OFFTOPIC: Can't keep Death Note out of my head because of the OVA's title! Well, darker Higurashi plot would of course benefit of the "killer" meaning of Kira.
The happy Rei-esque blue color doesn't help though.